Last week I wrote about the rules regarding land ownership for foreigners in Vietnam, here, this week I'm going to review the rules for owning a house or villa as a foreigner in Vietnam. These rules are different and, in fact, ownership is a bit of a misnomer--though the law uses the term, it really [...]
It seems one of the first questions asked by foreigners coming into Vietnam, can I, as a foreign, own land in Vietnam? The answer, by and large, is no, but it is still worth a look to understand the nuances and the possibilities for a foreigner to come into the country and impose his philosophies [...]
Repatriating foreign direct investments from Vietnam is a bit more complicated than repatriating foreign indirect investments (which I talked about last week, here). This week I am going to discuss the legal process for making FOREX and repatriation happen in the case of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Vietnam. This article should be read in [...]
When a non-Vietnamese citizen wants to invest in Vietnam there are a few questions which come up at the very beginning. One of them--and I've worked on several informational memos about this--is how they repatriate their investment, and any profits, from Vietnam when they are finished with the investment. The answer to that question depends [...]
A recent Linkedin post alerted me to a crackdown on foreign land ownership. It linked to an article in the local press about Chinese investors buying land in Da Nang through "various ruses." As I read the article I came to realize that the Linkedin poster hadn't really read into the article that much, or [...]
WHY WORRY ABOUT ANTI-CORRUPTION LAWS IN VIETNAM? At certain points of my career the question of corruption became relevant. Not only was there corruption in the government as they seized assets and claimed taxes—which they had already signed off as having received—weren't paid, but there was the question of what we, as a company seeking [...]
Because it's of interest to me, and to a lot of people, and I looked into it recently, I'm going to discuss a topic of law that is in an area of practice outside of Indochine Counsel's expertise. I want to talk about the requirements to become a naturalized Vietnamese citizen. Not only is it [...]
Formalities. Time consuming, seemingly needless, but so very important. When I was in Laos, I worked for an investment fund that offered some private parties loans. I was in charge of securing those loans. I did my due diligence, researched the secured transaction law--which was fairly simple--and drafted sufficient contracts to protect the fund. But [...]
A while ago I was working with another lawyer on an M&A deal. The target company was a Vietnamese entity that operated in a restricted sector. This meant that foreign ownership was limited. Our client was a foreign entity that had a Business Cooperation Contract with the Vietnamese entity that stated that the foreign entity [...]
I try not to let my personal life interfere with this blog too much, though I do on occasion tell personal stories. I'm currently sitting in Laos Plaza Hotel in Vientiane, Laos, and wondering at the difference between Vietnam and Laos. While there is indeed some new construction here in Vientiane, it is nothing like [...]